Beneath a Moonless Sky
by Raphs No.1 Girl
Summary: Don't take life for granted, just do what makes you happy while you have the chance. Because at the end, you want to be thinking back on all the happy memories, instead of lamenting all your regrets. One-shot. Slash - McShep. Warning: Character death


_**Not really sure where this fic came from, but anyway, here it is.**_

_**Song is from the Australian production of 'Love Never Dies', the sequel to ALW's 'Phantom of the Opera'.**_

_**DISCLAIMER: Neither Stargate Atlantis or the song lyrics belong to me.**_

* * *

"What the hell happened, McKay?!"

"I have no idea! We just suddenly lost power shortly after entering the planet's atmosphere."

The two men were standing staring at the wreckage that had once been a puddle jumper. Even he could tell that any usefulness the machine might have left would be limited to supplying spare parts for other jumpers, and that this particular one would never fly again, but even in a situation like this he couldn't pass up an opportunity to tease Rodney,

"So, can you fix it?" The scientist didn't bother to respond, so Sheppard tried a new angle to lighten the mood, "I bet now you're glad that I made parachutes standard equipment in all the jumpers – I mean, not only did having them save us from the crash, but we can also use them to make a shelter while we wait to get rescued."

"Oh great, you're one of those 'glass-half-full' kinda guys, aren't you?" Typical Rodney retort – irritable and sarcastic.

Sheppard grinned at him for a moment, before getting down to business, "C'mon, McKay, let's see what we can salvage. It's gonna get dark soon and we should make camp." Rodney sighed but didn't argue. And so the two men set about searching the wrecked jumper and building a camp while they waited for rescue to eventually turn up.

…oOo…

**A few weeks later…**

John groaned as he woke up. Cracking his eyes open, he saw the red sky that usually accompanied a sunrise or sunset, and for a moment he was confused about where he was. Suddenly his memories of what happened all came flooding back.

The wraith dart had taken them by surprise. The planets around this particular space gate were all uninhabited, so running into the wraith was not considered very likely to happen. John guessed it must have been a scout of some sort, sent out to search for new feeding grounds or a good location for an outpost. It had simply been a case of very bad luck that they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time and come face-to-face with it. John had quickly taken it out with a couple of drones, but not before it had gotten in a few shots that had destroyed one drive pod completely, and left the other just about clinging to life. Rodney had been in the rear compartment, pulling out wires and rearranging control crystals, desperately trying to reroute enough power to the remaining drive pod so that Sheppard could land the craft. But eventually, despite his efforts, the second pod failed, and the last thing Sheppard remembered before he was knocked unconscious was the sight of the ground rushing up to meets them.

So why could he see the sky? No doubt Rodney would know – Rodney! He quickly sat upright to look for his friend, and instantly regretted it as his head throbbed and his brain finally registered the pain his battered body was feeling. As he looked around, he discovered that he was actually lying on what had been the ceiling, one of the chairs in the cockpit hanging down just a few feet away from him from what was left of the floor. And now he realised why he had been able to see the sky – during the crash, as the jumper scraped along the ground, the hull had been ripped open like a tin can, and fragments of metal had torn off and gone tumbling around in the jumper with them before it had finally rolled to a stop at the bottom of a steep slope.

"McKay?" There was no response. He hoped that was simply because he hadn't heard or was unconscious, and not because he was…John couldn't even bring himself to finish the thought.

He knew Rodney had been in the rear compartment when they hit the ground, so he decided to look there first. Getting unsteadily to his feet and leaning heavily on the wall of the jumper for support, he slowly made his way to the back of the craft, stepping over bits of debris as he went.

It was the scientist's hand he saw first, sticking out from beneath a pile of twisted metal. He frantically began pulling the shrapnel off him, desperately calling his friend's name and praying he wasn't too late.

Pulling aside one of the metal seats, he sighed in relief as he saw Rodney's bright blue eyes staring up at him. They were unfocused, indicating a possible concussion, but it seemed the seat had protected Rodney's head from further injury from the displaced metal.

"Hey buddy, you just sit tight while I get the rest of this stuff off ya." Shoving aside another large piece of metal, he gasped as Rodney's abdomen became visible, and he saw the extent of the damage. A large twisted bit of shrapnel had impaled Rodney, holding him to the ground, and appeared to almost cut him in half. Blood was caked around the site of the wound, but it seemed that the metal was preventing it from bleeding too much, at least externally anyway. John hated to think how much internal damage his team mate had suffered.

All the while Rodney had remained silent. _Probably in shock_, John thought to himself, _I've gotta get him talking if we're both gonna make it outta here_. He knew it would take a few hours for the rescue team to arrive, and though his head told him Rodney didn't have that long, he refused to accept it.

He clambered back over bits of wreckage and slid slowly down the wall until he was in a sitting position beside Rodney.

"It's not that bad, you're gonna be fine." No answer, not that he had really expected it to be that easy. "C'mon McKay, it's gonna be a really long and boring wait if you're gonna give me the silent treatment the whole time." Still Rodney ignored him. "Look, I'm sorry, okay? But it really wasn't all my fault – I mean, how was I supposed to know there was a dart flying around out her? McKay! Pull yourself together and listen to me! What're you looking at anyway?" He looked upwards at the stars twinkling above them and sighed, leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes. He was just falling asleep when,

"S-stars…no moon…"

"Huh? McKay?"

"…j-just like…before…"

John felt as if any ice-cold hand was squeezing his internal organs as understanding dawned.

"You're bringing this up now?"

"Important…need…to talk about it…"

"Why now? Why not before?"

"Because I-I'm…not making it out-…outta this one."

"Nuh-uh, Rodney, no way am I having this conversation with you! You're gonna be fine and –"

"John…please." The desperate plea broke Sheppard's heart – though he didn't want to believe it, it really was an all-too-likely probability that he was going to lose Rodney.

"Fine, but let's get one thing straight – we're not doing this as part of some cliché death scene. We're just trying to pass the time until help arrives. Deal?"

A weak chuckle and then, "Deal."

_**Once there was a night, beneath a moonless sky,**_

_**Too dark to see a thing, too dark to even try…**_

"It was a night just like this one – a sky full of stars, but no moon."

"That's why we crashed."

"Yeah, you said that having no moon had affected the planet's gravitational field or something."

"Well that's not exactly what I said, but –"

"_Anyway_, we crashed and totally wrecked the jumper. We knew it was gonna take hours for Atlantis to send help, so we salvaged whatever we could and made camp…"

…_**I stole to your side**__**  
**__**Tormented by my choice**__**  
**__**I couldn't see your face**__**  
**__**Yet trembled at your voice**__**  
**__**And I touched you**__**  
**__**And I felt you**__**  
**__**And I heard those ravishing refrains**__**  
**__**The music of your pulse**__**  
**__**The singing in your veins**__**  
**__**And I held you**__**  
**__**And I touched you**__**  
**__**And with every breath and every sigh**__**  
**__**I felt no longer scared**__**  
**__**I felt no longer shy**__**  
**__**At last our feelings bared, beneath a moonless sky**__**  
**__**And blind in the dark, as soul gazed into soul**__**  
**__**I looked into your heart and saw you pure and whole**__**  
**__**Cloaked under the night, with nothing to suppress**__**  
**__**A woman and a man, no more and yet no less**__**  
**__**And I kissed you**__**  
**__**And caressed you**_

_**And the world around us fell away**_

_**We said things in the dark, we never dared to say**__**  
**__**And I caught you**__**  
**__**And I kissed you**__**  
**__**And I took you**__**  
**__**And I begged you**__**  
**__**With a need too urgent to deny**__**  
**__**As nothing mattered then, except for you and I**__**  
**__**Again and then again, beneath a moonless sky…**_

"Y'know, Sheppard, that really was the best night of my life."

"Mine too, McKay."

"I remember wishing it would never end – but nothing can last forever."

…_**And when it was done, before the sun could rise**__**  
**__**Ashamed of what I was, afraid to see your eyes**__**  
**__**I stood while you slept and whispered a good-bye**__**  
**__**And slipped into the dark beneath a moonless sky.**__**  
**__**And I loved you, yes, I loved you!**__**  
**__**I'd have followed anywhere you lead,**__**  
**__**I woke to swear my love, and found you gone instead!**__**  
**__**And I loved you**__**  
**__**Oh I loved you**__**  
**__**And I left you**__**  
**__**How I loved you**__**  
**__**And I had to both of us knew why!**__**  
**__**We both knew why**__**  
**__**And yet I won't regret from now until I die**__**  
**__**The night I can't forget beneath a moonless sky…**_

"I guess we were both idiots."

"Yeah. If only – no, it's too late."

"No, it's not Rodney – it's never too late!"

…_**And now?**__**  
**__**How can you talk of now?**_

_**For us... there is no now…**_

"But why, McKay?! If this whole experience has taught us anything, it's that you shouldn't take life for granted. We should just do what makes us happy while we have the chance, so that we don't end up spending our final moments lamenting all of our regrets."

Rodney simply snorted in response. Sheppard was about to question him when he heard something.

"Hey, Rodney, d'ya hear that?" The familiar sound of an approaching jumper filled the air. "It's the rescue team – we're gonna make it."

Rodney breathed a sigh of relief, "You're gonna be okay."

"Yeah, Rodney, we're – wait, what?!"

"Huh?"

"You said 'you're' not 'we're'. Why would you say that? We're both still alive and the rescue team's here."

"I'm sorry, Sheppard –"

Now he was really scared, "What the hell is going on McKay?"

"You're more seriously injured than you think, but I couldn't just let you die. This was all you I could for you."

Shouts of the rescue teams could be heard as they approached the wreckage of the downed puddle jumper.

"They're here now, so you're gonna be okay. I'm sorry things turned out like this, John. I really wish – no, it doesn't matter now. What's done is done, and we can't change that. You're gonna go on to have an amazing life, a future."

Sheppard felt totally detached from the world, seeing the rescue team bustling around as ghostly forms.

"And when your time eventually comes, I'll be waiting for you, okay?"

He was about to protest that he still didn't understand, when he saw one of the ghostly figures lift Rodney up slightly – and he paled in horror as realisation dawned.

The back of Rodney's head was a gory, bloody mess, as part of his skull was missing.

He looked up to see the smiling face of his friend's spirit, beginning to fade away, "Goodbye, John."

"…pard! Colonel Sheppard! He's not responding – might be in shock, but this head wound also looks pretty serious."

Still staring straight ahead, John ignored the calls of the living, his thoughts entirely consumed by his dead friend. His friend who had been dead the whole time, who's spirit had stayed by his side to ensure he survived. His best friend, who had been his whole world, the person he loved more than life itself, his reason for existing – and now he was gone. John felt his heart break – but then a flower of hope bloomed amidst the pain. Because he knew that he would see him again one day. A tear slipped down his cheek as he whispered,

"See ya later, buddy."

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_**Thanks for reading!**_


End file.
